Marginal & Mature

Fields “For every

marginal or mature
field, there is a cost-
effective solution
to maximize your
profits.”
Jacques Melman, Managing Director,
with Frames since 1991
 Production and Cost Optimization
in Marginal and Mature Fields

Donkerbroek and Hemrik, Total Plant Solution Viura, Total Plant Solution

“Unlocking resources from marginal and mature fields is becoming Table of Contents
more and more important, but also challenging in times of low oil The Situation and the Challenge The Situation and the Challenge
prices. At Frames we provide the vital link between the well and • Solutions by Subject
the pipeline. Our experience around the world, onshore and offshore, •• Maximizing Recovery Rate Marginal fields are oil and gas resources of which development is With declining revenues at existing facilities,
has given us the know-how to design and supply highly productive •• Working Closely Together considered uneconomical due to reserve size, market conditions and especially in maturing and end-of-life fields,
solutions that seamlessly fit existing operations. •• Optimization production costs. The number of marginal fields worldwide has it is essential to keep production levels as high
• Black Box Approach increased. Partly due to new discoveries and, partly due to low oil as possible with the least investment. Cost-effective
In the current market situation we help create cost-effective and • Value Engineering prices resulting in fields being classified as marginal because of the production solutions for these fields are of critical
fit-for-purpose solutions. Whether developing marginal fields, • Unmanned Operations shifted cost versus returns balance. Production optimization is importance. These include clever technical
or extending the lifespan of a mature field, our goal is to constantly •• Standardization essential to develop a marginal field economically. adjustments to the existing facilities.
optimize production. By working closely together with our clients and • Fit-for-purpose or Standardized?
creating partnerships, we achieve this goal. In this white paper, we
share our expertise with you on how to reach cost-reducing produc-
tion optimization in relation to marginal and mature fields.”

Jacques Melman, Managing Director Frames

2 A Family of Oil & Gas Solutions

 Solutions
Maximizing Recovery Rate

With the ‘easy’ oil and gas being largely identified and tapped into,
maximizing the recovery rate of the maturing fields containing the
oil and gas is an attractive strategy for maintaining production at
low costs, especially with decreasing oil prices.

When reservoirs are depleting, artificial lift processes are applied to

maintain production, like injection methods which are used to maintain
reservoir pressure. To this end, gas or water is often injected into the
reservoir, thereby raising the recovery rate. However, this comes at the
expense of process challenges.

Applying artificial lift to exploit maturing fields changes the behavior

of the well and alters the composition of the production stream.
Existing process equipment installed to separate the mixture of oil,
water and gas might no longer be suitable to achieve the original
design requirements. For oil fields, when the water content of the
produced stream rises significantly (in some cases up to 90%), water
will be carried over to downstream equipment, causing poor separation
performance. For gas fields, when the pressure drops, the downstream
equipment no longer performs due to a corresponding increase in
volume flow. In such cases it is required to debottleneck the process
equipment by installing skid-mounted add-ons, modifying existing
equipment or replacing entire sections.

BP Shah Deniz, Induced Gas Flotation Package

4 A Family of Oil & Gas Solutions

Saudi Aramco’s Gas Oil Separation
Plants: Converting existing equipment
Frames is familiar with the process-related challenges of mature fields
and has been providing debottlenecking solutions for many years. For
Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, we provide support through
engineering studies, CFD analyses, revamps of process equipment and
installation of advanced separation solutions. In some Gas Oil
Separation Plants (GOSPs) such as Hawiyah and Uthmaniyah, Frames is
actively involved in altering the service of the separation equipment to
Saudi Aramco, Separation Vessels designed for Gas Oil Separation Plants (GOSPs)
6 A Family of Oil & Gas Solutions
Case
enable coping with continuously increasing water
cuts. Converting existing separators from 2-phase
to 3-phase in these cases is known to save up
to 60% in pump OPEX, many 100,000 USDs in
heater OPEX savings and reduce the demulsifier
consumption.
Find out more about our separation solutions.
Wintershall Gas Fields: Revamp of
existing designs
Smaller gas fields, such as those operated by Wintershall in the
North Sea, have also proven to be worth exploiting beyond original
projections with the aid of Frames know-how. The A6-A platform
that operates on a gas field facing decreasing well pressure required
an innovative and cost-effective solution to upgrade the capacity of the
existing scrubbers. Replacing the scrubbers entirely would be costly,
requiring hot-works, rerouting of piping and a long shutdown period.
Frames offered a revamp of the existing designs with state of the art
internals that ensured an improvement in throughput of 60% and a
decrease in pressure drop of 50%. But equally important, the
revamping solution avoided the need for in-situ welding and required
Case
only a brief installation window and offered the
operational gains at a modest investment.
Frames is very much aware of the squeeze that
operators and end users face and has proven to
be a supplier of inventive onshore and offshore
solutions that not only mitigate the technical
challenges, but also allow cost-effective recovery
of these resources.
Find out more about our separation solutions.
Wintershall A6-A platform © Wintershall
Working Closely Together

The challenge of economical and profitable developments for marginal “I think there is a big and
and maturing fields often pivots around interest of the different parties
exciting future ahead and within
involved. Working closely together with partnerships all over the world
makes it possible to overcome these challenges. Every partnership or the industry for a long time to
collaboration is unique, addressing the goals of stakeholders and indi-
come. We’ll be going after the
vidual demand. Yet experience shows most partnerships have several
benefits in common: more difficult hydrocarbons
of the smaller scale.
•• Partnerships deliver higher quality and fit-for-purpose project
outcomes by creating a fertile platform of knowledge and
So, I find it exciting.”
innovation.
•• Partnerships result in shorter delivery times (and thus a reduced Roelof Platenkamp, CEO,
time to market) by combining expertise and compressing steps Tulip Oil
in different phases.
•• Partnerships provide effective communication, with a single
point of contact.
Donkerbroek and Hemrik, Total Plant Solution

The Donkerbroek and Hemrik Project: Case

Working together to provide fast-track

total plant solution

Trust is earned. It takes time and effort. At the Donkerbroek and In addition, at Frames we worked under strict
Hemrik development project in The Netherlands, we worked intimately project delivery parameters, including a fixed
with our client, Tulip Oil, to provide a fast-track total plant solution for number of labor hours and a final cost variance
this marginal field development. (15%) that was half of the industry norm.

The close cooperation between Tulip Oil and Frames allowed us to cut
lead time substantially, as well as focus our engineering capabilities
on optimizing capital and operational costs. Ultimately, the installed
costs per standard cubic foot were 40% lower than conventional
operations.
As a Frames total plant solution, the work scope included a wide
range of activities: project management; basic and detail engineering;
procurement and subcontracting; manufacturing, inspection and shop
testing; site construction and erection; pre-commissioning, functional
test and startup; process tuning and personnel training.
Donkerbroek and Hemrik, Total Plant Solution
The contract was awarded in 2013, and the first
gas flowed in January 2015.
Thanks to the close working relationship between
Frames and Tulip Oil, the project fast-tracked
from the design stage straight into the project
execution stage. The final investment was, indeed,
within 15% of the target price. The plant has
operated more than 7,200 labor hours without
a lost time incident (LTI).
Find out more about our total plant solutions.

8 A Family of Oil & Gas Solutions

Optimization Value Engineering The Viura Project: Optimizing life Case

Optimization is all about maximizing the return
on investment on oil and gas fields. It is especially
important for marginal and maturing fields. There
are different ways to accomplish optimization.
Process optimization ultimately leads to production
optimization. Taking control of the design and
supply of a total plant creates integration
optimization for the client, based on the ideal
combination of processing equipment and utilities.
Black Box Approach
Process optimization is all about freedom.
With a black box approach, the only agreements
and specifications are output, performance and
safety. All stakeholders use their specific knowledge
and expertise to optimize the process and,
subsequently, design the module layout,
resulting in the most cost-effective solution.
At the outset of a project, the people involved establish high-level
agreements about philosophy and functions. Often terms such as
“as low as reasonably practicable” are invoked, balancing the level
of risk (based on safety and quality) with cost. During the early
development of the field, situations might occur which could influence
the feasibility of development. At that point, integrating the specific
process design knowledge with the client’s expectations and
requirements creates a solid basis to look for even further cost
reductions.
Unmanned Operations
Cost reductions are not only effective in capital expenditures, but also
in operational expenditures. Operating unmanned process facilities is
strongly driven by OPEX considerations. OPEX cost savings are most
visible in offshore applications, but the effect of unmanned onshore
operations can also be substantial. Unmanned operation can be
achieved with the right technical design supported by strong MTBF
(mean time between failure) and RAM (reliability, availability and
maintainability) studies.
cycle costs
Viura is a natural gas field located at a depth of 400 meters in La Rioja, “The partnership
Spain. A three-company consortium, led by Union Fenosa Gas (UFG),
with Frames was of vital
was formed for its exploitation.
importance to the project.
The Viura Modular Gas Plant delivered by Frames includes engineering,
Thanks to Frames’ wealth of
procurement and construction. Our complete portfolio in oil and gas
processing, offering a technologically neutral solution optimized in experience, and its technology,
both CAPEX and OPEX, was the key to our success. In close cooperation it was able to meet all
with UFG, the project life cycle costs were optimized by processes such
as combining dehydration and hydrocarbon dew pointing by methanol
specifications.”
injection.
Wides Schiavo, Head Project Manager,
Drawing on our 30 years of experience in oil and gas processing, Tomé Engenharia
we started the project at concept selection without an extensive FEED
(front-end engineering design) study. This concept resulted in a safe,
solid, technically sound and cost-effective modular facility, able to
be operated by remote control.
Find out more about our total plant solutions.

Viura, Total Plant Solution

10 A Family of Oil & Gas Solutions

Standardization Engineering Standards

Reduce costs by combining fit-for-purpose solutions with standardized, The role and influence of specifications in the oil
pre-engineered, proven designs, experience and know-how. It might and gas industry is enormous. But the increase
seem counterintuitive. But this combination can be practical and of prescriptive specifications often leads to less
profitable, especially in marginal and end-of-life oil fields. cost-efficient solutions. The use of engineering
standards, in combination with a black box
approach, can be the answer. The purpose of
Fit-for-purpose or Standardized? engineering standards is to ensure efficient
performance, meet safety requirements and
One of the biggest challenges in developing oil and gas fields is make sure that the solution is repeatable.
reducing costs. In smaller fields, cost-effective solutions are even
more important. The lower the initial costs, the greater the economic
viability. One worthwhile solution is to combine fit-for-purpose with
standardization, dialing back the process to essentials – producing oil
and gas safely, at a predefined quality – and combining it with a range
of pre-engineered, proven-in-use designs. Finding the balance between
designing re-deployable solutions (for example well production
flexibility) and solutions for shorter life span, is of high importance
for marginal fields.

Middelie NAM, KiSS skid

Frames wellsite package: A cost- Case 5

effective, plug-and-play solution

In order to ensure a guaranteed supply of gas for the coming decades,
the Dutch government developed the marginal field policy (“kleine
velden beleid”). This policy obliges operators in The Netherlands
to focus on development of these small gas fields.
Frames was approached by a client (Nederlandse Aardolie
Maatschappij) to jointly develop a conceptual design for a skid-
mounted integrated wellsite. Together with other leading industry
partners, the Keep it Smart and Simple (KiSS) concept was created.
This concept encouraged the partners to diverge from existing paths
and ideas. The result of one year of joint input was the KiSS skid.
The skid is a tailor-made solution which can be used on most small
fields. It provides a cost-effective, plug-and-play
hookup. By integrating all the components of
a traditional wellsite onto a single steel structure,
it is possible to test the complete system before
dispatch to the field. This significantly reduces
the site installation time. The mobility also allows
relocation of the skids to new fields when the small
fields are depleted. NAM was so inspired by the
development of this concept that they changed
their operating and maintenance philosophy.
Find our more about our Wellsite Packages.

Saudi Aramco, Wellsite Package

12 A Family of Oil & Gas Solutions

About Frames frames-group.com

At Frames we provide the vital link between well and pipeline.

We design, deliver and construct separation, treatment and control
and monitoring systems as well as total plant solutions and modules
for the international oil and gas market. Our people work directly,
one-on-one, with each client for the best results. Sharp. Together.
Committed.

Reducing Costs in Marginal

and Mature Fields

Here are some simple ways to cut costs.

•• Artificial lift can be used to maintain production levels.

•• Revamping of designs is often achievable and cost effective.
•• Partnerships enable you to combine expertise, share knowledge
and communicate effectively.
•• A black box approach can significantly reduce costs due to
smoother development processes.
•• With the right technical design and studies, unmanned operations
can be achieved.
•• Costs can be reduced by finding the right balance between
fit-for-purpose solutions and standardized designs.

Contact

For more information about Marginal and Mature Fields, contact:

Tim Lauret t.lauret@frames-group.com +31 172 461600 or
Geert Willemse g.willemse@frames-group.com +31 88 0033300 or
Chris Klukkert c.klukkert@frames-group.com +31 172 504800

Learn More

Read all our white papers at frames-group.com/together.

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